When our Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Texas Christian University (TCU) was considering which speaker we would host this fall, we discussed several topics that we thought would resonate on campus. Our club immediately decided that we needed to do an event that focused on the Second Amendment. Our student body, which is 60 percent female, receives frequent emails about cases of sexual assault and robbery that happen both on-campus and a few feet away from campus. After doing some research,
we found that there is a concentration of sexual predators who reside within a few miles of our campus. Taking all of this into
consideration, we decided to ask Young America’s Foundation speaker Bay Buchanan to address the
importance of Second Amendment rights and how they impact our campus.

As we began advertising our event, we noticed that school
administrators were rejecting or ignoring our requests to distribute our flyer to academic departments and post it on school event pages and other outlets. The reason for the rejection became clear when
we confronted the administration. They informed us that our event could not be advertised
because of “gun references.” In reality, our flyer had a picture of an
antique shotgun on it.

We complied with the administration, sacrificing our flyer for a much more
generic, less appealing alternative just so our event could be put on event calendars and other marketing outlets controlled by the school.

We also planned
to have a raffle for students to win a concealed handgun training class if they were over 21. Winners would be
announced after Bay’s speech, which would encourage a larger attendance of our event. This initiative was rejected
by our school because “it exclude[d] students who are under
21.” We realized this was a valid point, and decided to raffle a shotgun training class for anyone over 18 instead.

This was also
rejected, making it clear the school’s issue had nothing to do with
age requirements. We were told to consider other, “less
dangerous things like paintball.” This is ironic, seeing that a game of paintball is much more
dangerous than a shotgun training class with a licensed
professional and paper targets. TCU’s alternative suggestions
not only have nothing to do with our event, but are a clear demonstration of liberal
bias and suppression of discussion surrounding the Second Amendment.

As a last stitch effort to compromise, we asked if we could raffle off Skeet Shooting–something many
students at our school enjoy. This was also rejected, and we
were told that we couldn’t do “anything that has to do with guns
whatsoever.”

I am shocked by the degree
of political correctness shown by administrators on this issue. Our school has one of the top rifle teams in the nation, as well as a large population of students who enjoy hunting, sport shooting, and support the Second Amendment.

Kathleen D’Urso is the chapter chair of Young Americans for Freedom at Texas Christian University